Before that they camped outside the counting centre here at the MGM Grounds on Monday with garlands and sweets, along with huge groups of their supporters.

In the Udyavara Grama Panchayat, for instance, the election was fought almost entirely on local issues like envoiournment, resulting in a mishmash of candidates from rival political ideologies on one issue and won almost 19 leaving behind the congress just 6 seats and BJP 6. Stranger events unfolded also with the Kallianpura ward 3. Candidate backed with envouirmental issue won the election where when the report last came in came in the BJP was leading with 13 and the congress with 5 Seats.

In an interesting development a husband and wife who contested from Kemmannu Grama Panchayat won both the seats. Brother and sister who contested from someshwar won the seats, Subash Shetty a candidate from kinnigolis kemral gram panchayat who met an accident and died earlier before the election was declared elected after the counting.

Sharq United lifts KCS Trophy 2010

As the great summer of Kuwait being not very far, Sharq United Kuwait was high in spirits to host Kuwait Computer Services (KCS) Cricket Tournament. Under the kind patronage of Mr. Tyagarajan, the KCS Trophy 2010 kicked-off at 6am sharp on bright and sunny Friday, 7^th of May for a day-long cricket festival with sportive cricketers on the field and supportive fans off the field.

This well-planned event was meticulously devised by Patric Pinto – President of Sharq United along with his enthusiastic mates at the Executive Committee. Fixtures for this 8-team event were sorted in advance in the presence of all team captains.

After the preliminary rounds, four teams made it to the semi-final stage. In the first semi-final match, Sharq United scored 90 in the allotted 10 overs and beat Kirby Cricketers convincingly by 32 runs with K.S. Kalappa of Sharq United producing best bowling figures of the tourney – taking 4 wickets and conceding only 3 runs in his quota of 2 overs.

Similar scores were seen in the second semi-final match as well. JTC Team X-Treme scored 91 in 10 overs batting first. In their chase, Southern Sizzlers managed to put up a total of 58 runs.

Finally, all eyes from the numerous spectators that included spouses and children of players were glued to the heroes on the field for the grand finale. JTC Team X-Treme batted first and scored 61 runs in their allotted 10 overs. Led by Arthur Lewis, Sharq United reached their target in 9 overs leading to some memorable celebrations - both on and off the field!

Main sponsor’s of the event were Kuwait Computer Services represented at the venue by Mr. Tyagarajan. Co-Sponsor’s included Caesar’s Group represented by Mr. S.K. Mishra and Mr. K.S. Kalappa; and Gulf Insurance Company represented by Mr. Manoj Sharma.

Alwyn Fernandes and Manoj Mishra anchored the closing ceremonies and the list of winners is here below:

KCS 2010 Trophy Winner: Sharq United

Runners Up: JTC Team X-Treme

Man of the Series: Arthur Lewis (Sharq United)

Man of the Final Match: Sandip D’Douza (JTC Team X-Treme)

Best Batsman: Sandip Platina (JTC Team X-Treme)

Best Bowler: K.S. Kalappa (Sharq United)

During the presentation ceremony, two special felicitations were included as below:

Manoj Mishra was awarded with a memento for his two short stories, which were recently published: Shrinking Woman & Other Stories; and Vanilla Desires & Other Stories.

Vincent D’Souza was awarded with a souvenir of appreciation for his praiseworthy contribution towards Sharq United.

Patric extended his warmest thanks to Mr. Lawrence D’Souza and Mr. Ghazi Al Abdul Razzak of Caesars Group; Gulf Insurance Company; and Mr. Richard Nazareth for their continuous support for Sharq United events.

Alwyn thanked each and every member of Sharq United for their enthusiastic attitude from dawn to dusk and also expressed his sincere gratitude to every person off the field for making this tournament a success. Mr. Tygarajan was gracious to acknowledge the efforts and spirits of Sharq United and ensured continued support in the future.

The pictures herewith speak for themselves.

Governor Sankaranarayanan describes Resul, Rahman, Gulzar as trinity of Indian Cinema
 
The Governor of Maharashtra K. Sankaranarayanan has described musician A.R. Rahman, lyricist Gulzar and Sound Designer Resul Pookutty as the trinity of Indian Cinema. “They are the Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh of the Indian Cinema”, he proclaimed.

The Maharashtra Governor was speaking at the launch of the Malayalam autobiography of Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty ‘Shabdatharapadham’ at Hotel Leela in Mumbai recentelly.  The Governor presented the first copy of the book to A. R. Rahman.

The autobiography has been published by the Penguin Books India and supported by the Malayala Manorama publications.

Executive Editor of Malayala Manorama Jacob Mathew, Chairman of the Leela Group Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, Resident Editor of Penguin Books Dileep Raj, cricketer Sreesanth and other eminent personalities were present on the occasion.

1Congratulating Resul Pookutty, A.R.Rahman and Gulzar for their immense contribution to the Indian film industry, the Governor credited them for the success of the Oscar-winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.
Mr Sankaranarayanan said, by honouring Resul Pookutty with the Oscar, the Academy of Motion Pictures has done a great favour to the fraternity of technicians and behind-the-scene artists in India whose role is crucial to film-making, but is seldom acknowledged.

He added that Resul’s work as a sound designer, production mixer, editor and post-production re-recording mixer, has brought Indian cinema sound to international acclaim. The Governor complimented Resul Pookutty for the colloquial style of writing while commending the book to the readers.

Legendary lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar and musical maestro A. R. Rahman congratulated Resul Pookutty for coming up with the autobiography in a short time. ‘Shabatharapadham’ has been co-authored by Baiju Natarajan.
    
Photo caption:

Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan presents the first copy of the autobiography of Oscar winning Sound Designer Resul Pookutty to the Grammy award winning musician A. R. Rahman in Mumbai on Thursday (13 May). Well-known lyricist Gulzar was also present on the occasion of release of the autobiography in Malayalam titled ‘Shabdatharapadham’.

 

REV. DR JOSEPH MARTIS DECLARED AS THE NEW RECTOR OF ST JOSEPH’S INTERDIOCESAN  SEMINARY

Rev. Dr Joseph Martis has been appointed as the new  Rector of St Joseph’s Inter-Diocesan Seminary, Jeppu  by the  Congregation of  the Evangelization of Peoples, Vatican, of which Honorable Cardinal Ivan Dias is the Prefect at present. This was declared by Most Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mangalore on the 10^th of May, 2010 at the Seminary and Fr Joseph  will take charge as the Rector on the 3^rd of June, 2010.

REV. DR JOSEPH MARTIS:

Rev. Fr. Joseph Martis was born in Pangala on 4-6-1960 as the son of Late Baptist and Celestin Martis. He had his primary education in Pangala and Pre – university studies at St Aloysius College, Mangalore. Had priestly formation at St Joseph’s Seminary from 1977 to 1988. After the priestly ordination on 3.5.1988,  he served as the  assistant parish priest of Bondel and Bendure parishes. Completed his MA in Philosophy from Dharwad University together with Diploma in Formative Psychology. Had his specialized studies from 1996 to 2003 with a Licentiate and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Paris – France. Joined the Staff of St Joseph’s Seminary, Jeppu in 2003; played the role of a formatter   in different capacities as Minister of philosophers, Dean of Studies and Editor of ‘Unitas’ the annual magazine of the Seminary.

ST JOSEPH’S INTER-DIOCESAN  SEMINARY

The 131 years old Seminary established in the year 1879 was managed by the Society of Jesus for number of years.  In the year 1995 the administration was handed over to the  Dioceses.  At present it is managed by the Board of Administration consisting of three Dioceses – Mangalore, Calicut and Kannur; the Bishop of the Diocese of Mangalore is the Chairman of the Board.  In the year 2009-2010 it has formed 249 seminarians and religious sisters from 27 Dioceses and 9 Religious Congregations of men and women spread out all over the country.  Since last four years it has taken up the mission of  teaching Theology to the laity.  In the recent batch there were 25 lay students of Theology.  The Seminary accommodates 18 resident professors and more than two dozens of visiting professors as to teach different subjects.  It would  focus on the multidimensional and wholistic formation of the would be priests and religious with spiritual, human, intellectual, pastoral and missionary aspects and elements. 

RESPONSE TO KEY ISSUES:

He responded with definite answers when he was contacted after the declaration, with regard to some of the key issues on priestly formation, life and mission.

1. Do you see any change in the approach and orientation of a seminarian of  the past and of the present?

There is a drastic change in the orientation and approach of the seminarian of the present times when we look at the past.  The attitude of looking at every issue is different.  Because the atmosphere of the present is totally different.  The  outlook of  youth regarding family, spirituality, church etc is different.  They come from that background.  Today the life experience is poor;  the hunger, work, cultivation, poverty of the past is not felt by the present generation.

2. What are the key elements / issues / challenges that are to be given maximum attention in the present priestly formation?

The wholistic formation is the need of the hour. The spiritual experience of Jesus, feeling and knowing the tensions and tresses of the common man, feeling of oneness with the suffering, sharing of Christ’s love with all are some of the key elements.  The spiritual and psychological formation towards these issues is to be focused in the present times. 

3. With the widespread structures of the Church,  most of the time of a priest has to be set aside for the administrative work. Whether this slows down the  missionary zeal and spirit?

It is a technical question.  The answer cannot be affirmative. Every   priest is called to become  a shepherd.  His attention has to be multifaceted.  He has to  heed to every aspect of human life like spiritual, human, social, economic etc and etc.  When a priest works in an institution he attends to these multifaceted needs and aspects of life and becomes a promoter of wholistic growth of the society. 

 

4. ‘There is a huge structural growth in the Church’ – it is said. Whether there is a  parallel spiritual growth?

There is a huge spiritual growth around us.  Yet as it is not complete, much more is yet to be done.  There are a number of issues and responsibilities that are to be taken care seriously. 

5. Number of priests and religious serve in the cities. But it looks that there are no candidates for priestly / religious life from the cities. How would you respond?

These are facts and figures which are to be accepted and cannot be denied.  We need to create a great awareness in this regard and we have the responsibility as to concentize the people of the city with regard to the responsibility of every family as to foster good vocations.  The small number of children in a family is one of  the major deciding factor here.  Now as there are more and more colleges, English medium schools, traveling means and multimedia facilities are entering the rural set ups, in the years to come there would be a very narrowed down difference between  the cities and villages.  

6. There is a fear in the local Church as to work as a sincere Christian because of some of the fundamental groups. How this would affect the missionary Church?

The fear is a fact that cannot be denied. But it is good challenge to us as to prepare ourselves, prepare the present seminarians and  give them a right orientation.  It is a challenge as to prepare spiritually and psychologically.  With this, we would learn to be ready for any eventualities and sufferings in the future; we would train ourselves for a committed and courageous future; we would be better equipped spiritually and psychologically.   

Book release - Konknni Literature in Roman Script - A Brief History

Panaji, May 13: To commemorate the 156th birth anniversary of Msgr Sebastiao Rudolfo Dalgado, the great son of Goa and a scholar of international repute,  Dalgado Konkani Akademi (DKA) released the much awaited scholarly book, Konkani Literature in Roman Script - A Brief History written by eminent Konknni stalwart late Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes, at the hands of Vinayak Naik, editor of ‘Goa Today’  at a special function organized by DKA on 8th May, 2010 at Kala Academy’s Black Box, Panaji. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vinayak Naik said that the late Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes was the extraordinary Konknni person. The profoundity of his knowledge of every aspect o Konknni language was simply incomparable. He was the ultimate in the field of Konknni language and literature, Mr. Vinayak commented.

Mrs. Eslinda Gomes, wife of late Prof. Dr. Gomes was the special invitee.

Mr. Vinayak did not hesitated to take a potshot at the script controversy of Konknni. He said that he is entirely in agreement with all those who suggest that one script and one language could be the norm, but in some cases like that of Konknni making an exception is a must. "By that I mean, more than one script should be unhesitatingly permitted. Those who think that if Konknni is allowed to write in multiple scripts will affect the language  are all wrong. Konknni will not be a unique case of one language and multiple scripts. Because there are already so many other languages written in two or three scripts, and they are flourishing. Therefore, the argument of the Devnagari script votaries that Konknni will make way for partition if Romi script is given recognition has absolutely no foundation."

He further said that actually by refusing to give  Romi script its rightful place under  the sun, the Devnagari script adherer are unwittingly contributing eventually towards the doom of Konknni and that would be very tragic indeed.

A writer is a writer regardless in which script he writes. It does not make him inferior if he writes in Romi script. What is important is his thoughts and not the script, Mr. Vinayak said.

He further said that it pains to see that the advocates of Devnagari script talk about setting time frame to Romi script writers to change over to Devnagari script. This type of thinking is not very much different from the time bound resolution policy of Government of India for the dalits. If this view is accepted of Devnagari votaries then it will mean dalitising the Roman script of Konknni.

Mr. Vinayak Naik expressed the need for harmony between both the scripts of Konknni and also to officially accommodate the Roman script in Official Language Act.

President of Tiatr Academy and former Speaker of Legislative Assembly Mr. Tomazinho Cardozo spoke on the book and said that the book covers the literary works printed right from 1556, when the first printing press came to Goa.

The president of DKA, Mr. Premanand A. Lotlikar presided over the function. He said that the Konkani Literature in Roman Script - A Brief History written late Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes will be translated in Konknni  and will be released next year on 8th May, 2011. He also announced that DKA’s another important publication, the history of Konknni Novels is underway. 

DKA Secretary, Mr. Jose Salvador Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks. Mr. Walter Menezes  welcomed the gathering and Mr. Daniel F. de Souza compered the function.